Sorry Guys, Penis Size Matters

Penis size is an important factor in male attractiveness, a new
study suggests. It's as important as height and more important
than shoulder-to-hip ratios, the study says.

Of course, this is a kind of weird study, because usually we meet
mates while wearing clothing — and they shouldn't be able to
determine penis size.

It would be relevant, though, before humans invented clothing.
And it could have influenced how the penis evolved, because
without clothes, humanity's upright posture a man's "protruding,
non-retractable genitalia" would have been clearly visible to
potential mates.

Females may have preferred to mate with males with larger
penises, hoping to pass on the attractive trait to their sons.
This could be what led to the human penis being longer and
thicker than it is in any other primate.

Women may have selected for larger penises because they're linked
to higher rates of female orgasm and sexual satisfaction, which
may explain why the human penis is proportionally larger than
those of our evolutionary cousins.

Luckily, this has diminishing returns as the penises get bigger
and bigger. As
Nature News puts it, "men with substantially larger-than
average features were not found much more attractive than those
with only slightly above-average features."

The study was published in the journal Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences. And yes, PNAS does sound
a lot like penis. The researchers used 3D models of naked men
with varying body shapes, height, and flaccid penis length — up
to 5.1 inches. Here's an example of the three extremes in the
mock up, which they projected onto the wall life-size:

Female participants in the new study who viewed random subsets of
the life-size figures were also quick to rate those they found
unattractive, but spent significantly longer gazing at the
computer models they found appealing, particularly those with
longer penises. This pattern is consistent with a human tendency
to view attractive things for a longer time than those perceived
as unattractive.

That being said, having a longer penis had a bigger effect on
tall people. Short men were less attractive, even if they had a
longer penis, the researchers write in the paper: "This result
could be because perceived penis size was smaller when assessed
relative to the height of a taller man; or because of general
discrimination against short men irrespective of the value of
other traits, so that even a larger penis did little to increase
their net attractiveness."